15 freed on bail in Zimbabwe as top leaders intervene

HARARE, Zimbabwe - A human-rights activist and 14 others were ordered freed on bail yesterday after Zimbabwe's president and prime minister forced a judge to reverse her decision to send them back to the prison where they said they had been tortured.

Harare Magistrate Catherine Chimanda ignited international outrage Tuesday by revoking bail for human-rights advocate Jestina Mukoko and 17 others, saying prosecutors had formally charged them in a terrorism case.

"I'm happy to be out," Mukoko told reporters later as she and the others left prison. "Justice must prevail."

The terror charges they face have been denounced as baseless, but Chimanda decreed the trial should begin July 4.

As criticism flooded in from rights groups and other governments, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai raised the issue Tuesday in meetings with President Robert Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.

Tsvangirai's party, the Movement for Democratic Change, joined Mugabe's ZANU-PF party in a unity government in February to try to address the country's economic and political crises, but the partnership has been strained.

"They agreed that the bail conditions should be reinstated," James Maridadi, Tsvangirai's spokesman, told the Associated Press.

At a hastily called court hearing yesterday, Chimanda reversed her decision without saying why. She refused, however, to free three others she had ordered returned to prison Tuesday, saying their cases were more serious because they had allegedly been found with explosives.

A bail hearing before a higher court was scheduled for today for the three.

Mukoko testified during an earlier bail hearing that she had been tortured and assaulted during detention, and the defendants had bloodied, swollen faces during court appearances late last year.

The group - including members of Tsvangirai's former opposition party, which joined a coalition government in February - faces charges stemming from an alleged plot to overthrow Mugabe. Neighboring governments have said they believe the allegations are baseless.

There has been speculation the terrorism case was being pursued to put pressure on Tsvangirai to make concessions, or by Mugabe hard-liners to create tension in the unity government.